Dr. Goldmann Meets with German Officials in Charge of Indemnification

July 22, 1959

NEW YORK (Jul. 21)

The headquarters of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany today reported that Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the Conference, met this week with the German Ministers in charge of indemnification and other high ranking officials of the German states, as a follow-up to his conference last month with the German Minister Presidents of these states which was presided over by Chancellor Adenauer.

“At the meeting, the German representatives were hopeful that their states would be able to carry out the provisions of the Federal Indemnification law by March 31, 1963, the deadline date foreseen in the statute, ” the Claims Conference report stated. “Dr. Goldmann submitted a new specific suggestions for speeding up the pace of indemnification, above all in the advisability of obtaining standardized settlements for groups of cases where the underlying facts are similar. Ways were also explored for speeding up adjudications where a state is overburdened with claims, owing to the structure of jurisdiction agreed toby the German states.

“Dr. Goldmann pointed to the wealth of documents, recently made available to the German courts, bearing on the fact that Jewish persecutions in eastern Europe were instigated by the Nazi Government. He appealed to the German states to accept responsibility for emergency needs of Nazi victims coming from Roumania. At the same time he hailed the Administrative Agreement recently reached by the German states as permitting a more liberal interpretation of the Federal Indemnification Law, in certain instances, and expressed the hope that further progress in this direction will take place,” the report said.